TORONTO – Lawyers representing Elections Ontario told an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal hearing on Thursday that the agency seeks to accommodate all voters with disabilities the best it can, but those accommodations must ensure votes are secure and secret.
The tribunal is hearing final submissions in the complaint accessibility advocate David Lepofsky filed more than seven years ago, following an incident during the 2018 Ontario election.
He has said he tried to vote using Elections Ontario’s accessible voting machine but his ballot fell to the floor as it was coming out of the terminal and a poll worker told him that he inadvertently saw who he voted for.
At the time, Lepofsky also said that a voting affirmation document was not available to him in braille.
Lepofsky argued that Elections Ontario has also failed to ensure he can mark and cast his ballot independently and privately in other elections.
Lawyer Yael Bienenstock, who is representing Elections Ontario, said the agency wants all voters to be able to mark their ballots independently and verify their choice, and noted there are 175 accessible voting machines that people who are blind can use to do so.
“Lepofsky admitted that with AVT, he is able to mark his ballot on his own. He didn’t have to ask anyone else to mark it for him. He has used it to verify his choice before the ballot is printed. And he’s used it to verify his choice after the ballot was printed,” she told the tribunal hearing on Thursday.
“Offering AVT isn’t something that comes with no hardship for Elections Ontario. The evidence is it costs $3,500 to $5,000 per unit.”
Lepofsky argued Elections Ontario did not take sufficient action to ensure accessible voting, including before and after the incident in 2018, and that constitutes a continuing human rights violation.
He said in his closing argument on Thursday that he is seeking an effective, consistent and reliable method for blind people to vote.
Lepofsky said accessible voting machines were available in 159 voting locations while more than 7,000 other locations in Ontario had none.
He asked the tribunal to order Elections Ontario to come up with a plan to do a proper review of accessibility measures, and appoint an official monitor to oversee that process.
“We’ve heard, ‘stay inside the box and don’t change things because that might be a fundamental transformation’ or whatever the label was … It’s this bureaucratic rigidity in a situation where they needed creativity,” he said.
“I was told they would come up with an action plan with timetables. They still haven’t.”
Lepofsky told the tribunal earlier this month that he has advocated for the rights of blind people for decades and he wants to ensure accessible voting for them.
Elections Ontario says on its website that it’s committed to preventing and removing barriers “so that persons with disabilities can fully participate in the electoral process.”
It says assistive voting technology allows voters to listen to their ballot choices and cast their ballot “secretly and independently,” and that options such as voting by mail or by home visit are also available.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2026.
